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tv   Fox News Reporting  FOX News  October 8, 2012 1:00am-2:00am PDT

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>> out of work. >> they want jobs. >> americans under attack. >> the united states will never follow efforts to harm our americans. >> what do you do about the environme environment>> 90 billion in green jobs. >> is the president on the right track? fox news reporting breaks it down behind obama's green agenda from denver, colorado here is bret baier. >> colorado epitomizes colorado mountains a state with magnificent beauty rich natural resources and enterprising people.
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few places straddle the great divide over environment protection the way colorado does. like america has a whole, folks here don't always agree on how to balance our duty on the one hand to be good stewards of the earth and on the other to ensure this generation can endure all of the benefits can offer. fox news has been crisscrossing the country to bring you a better understanding of what is really driving the green debate. first up greg jug jarrett investigates a high ranking obama employee from the environmental protection agency and whether his radical views are all too common in the increasing powerful agent. >> al was one of the environmental protection agencies top officials until this tape went viral in april of 2012. >> go to a turkish town
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somewhere and that is managed for the next few years. >> crucify them. he was talking about how he deals with the oil and gas producers he regulated in arkansas, louisiana, new mexico oklahoma and stexas which comprised region 6. the video sparked a political firestorm. >> they were inflammatory. >> the boss lisa jackson accepted his resignation saying his views were not shared by the president who had appointed him. >> they don't come port with this administration's policy on energy. >> fox news learned it was not the only time armaderas openly threatened companies he regulateded. >> he appeared from the oklahoma petroleum association. what happened? >> he told the group straight on we are going to use everything in the book to come after you.
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>> harold han is ceo of cont then shalrie sources and employment company. he was recently appointed chairman of the romney campaign energy policy advisory group. >> we got it quick then. frankly they ought to shut us down. >> he made it clear oil and gas industry was the enemy. >> well, we started to look at it this way. >> there is more. before joining the obama administration he taught engineering at southern methodist university in dallas and also advised environmental groups in their battle against something called hydraulic fracturing the technique in water and chemicals far below ground to ex tact unrecoverable oil and gas. it created a bonanza. fracking pollutes air land and water. a plane famously advanced documentary gas land.
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the film made its point by igniting methane gas seeping out of colorado. >> professor a cameo that would later spark a different kind of expo say all together. that story begins in 2010 when a texan named steven lip ski attended a screening of gas plan near fort worth texas after he said he suspected his well had been fouled he was put in contact with an an ta fracking specialist. list went to a home with a camera connected a garden hose with a match to the end. it ignited. rich then e-mailed a copy to armenderas now with the epa as proof fracking by a company named range resources fouled his well.
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according to epa records agency scientists had misgivings about the video and other evidence that had been gathered. he brushed them aside and pushed through an emergency order against range veerses. he th -- range resources. >> not only is there natural gas in the oil well but there is natural gas that is coming from the production activities of range. the oil and gas regulator decide to do review the matter himself. >> there is no way in the world range had anything to do with the natural gas that might have been. >> indeed when he took his claim to state court the judge found that rich didn't screw that garden hose on to a water spigot but instead intentionally attached it to a methane gas vent, a common feature on many private water wells because methane gas is often found there.
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then they hit the record button and lit the escaping gas. >> oh my god. look at that. >> texas district court judge found that alyssa rich produced quote a deceptive video calculated to alarm the public into believing the fracking operations of a company called range resources were endangering human life. >> not only would she be back she passed that information on to reach 6th epa and they took it and ran with it as well. >> so range resources ultimately accused. >> they were falsely accused. this is an outlandish lie. and it is unfortunate that a federal official who has been given the public trust would falsify activity and go after a texas business. is it possible armanderus actually knows the tests have been deceptive and falsified? >> he was a willing participant.
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it wasn't like somebody pulled the wool over his eyes. al had his own agenda that was adverse to the national gas industry. >> last spring the epa quietly rescinded the order against range resources issued by arm d armenderas. he insists this goes beyond one regulator's agenda. >> that's the way eps has been behaving that's why they gained the reputation f. >> he twries triice tried to un shut down a natural gas fracking operation. >> the science has been faulty a vendetta against red white and blue. >> how the
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>> at the heart of the debate of
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environmental policy is the environmental protection agency. america is a lot cleaner than it used to be. many give the epa the credit. that isn't all the agency is doing or hopes to do in the future. should americans worry about epa increase? >> want to talk about environmental problems in america? look back a few decades. la smog was so bad in the 1940s one day panicked californians thought the japanese launched a chemical weapons attack. in the 1950s you could barely see across pittsburgh many days in 1965 time magazine pronounced lake erie a dead sea kill bide industrial pollution. president johnson declared the raw sewage flowing down the potomac a national disgrace. for the first time polls showed the environment was one of
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america's greatest worries. that presented an opportunity to lbj's successor. >> president nixon in 1968 he was moved that to say to his people get out in front of the environment. >> days after nixon took office a huge oil spill hit santa barbara. then ohio river caught fire. he was one of richard nixon's senior advisors. >> you have riverers catching fire you better be gracive. >> weeks after the first earth day in 1970 nixon established by executive order the brand new environmental protection agency. >> the government does a great job at cleaning things up. >> absolutely. >> they write extensively on green regulators. >> rivers are not catching fire any more. that's a great thing.
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>> we go through public opinion in those years and even as the nations air and water were getting cleaner american people were getting increasingly worried about the environment. why is that do you think? >> we went from not worrying at all in the 40s and 50s to possibly worrying too much or at least worrying about the wrong thing. >> blame that on environmental doomsday books beginning with silent spring by marine biologist rachel carson. a run away best seller it envisions humans gradually destroying the world by among other things the indiscreme nim use of chemicals. >> long board credits silent spring with launching the modern environmental movement. that movement showed it's
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strength by getting william russell house the first epa chief to ban the pdc. they were followed by increasing restrictions worldwide of the pesticide over the next 30 years. >> long headed long board said because the restrictions likely contributed to several million unnecessary debts from moss it included mass starvation economic implosion and collapse of civilization itself all within decades. >> do people believe this stuff? >> very clearly most people believe that back in the 70s the age was scared witness. >> the environmental movement began to more of into something new. >> so d tid the epa.
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wood has written extensively on the mission. >> it began to look at more elusive threats, chemicals that might or might not be carcinogenic. >> americans want protection from threats of all sorts risks we didn't know about. >> by the late 1970s increasingly intrusive epa regulations led to a backlash. >> we will not permit the safety of our people or environmental heritage to be jeopardized. we are going to reaffirm the economic prosperity of our people is a fundamental part of our earn environment. >> even under president reagan's watch the epa managed to turn a community into a ghost town. time speech missouri scientists found tiny traces of dioxin at the time thought to be the most toxic chemicals sin sizeed by
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man. they evacuated the beach up rooting thousands. today that toxic town is a popular state park. that's right. the federal health officials who ordered the evacuation later admitted he had over reacted. riley would become epa's administrator two years later. he pushed to expand his agency's regulatory reach. >> what was your crowning achievement? >> the crowning achieve was the use of market incentives for a first time in a major statute. >> he is talking about cap and trade a system that makes companies pay if they pollute. it was used to combat acid rain silver dl sulfur dioxide from s stacks said to be killing trees in the northeast. >> hugely effected largely accepted and supported approach to pollution control. the epa got authority in
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2007 when the supreme court ruled 5-4 the clean air act aut ridesed the agency to regulate greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide. >> carbon dioxide is what we inhale. it is needed for plants. >> mark lavin started the legal foundation. in that capacity he tangled with the epa in court. we have a branch of government. giving unelected branch of government enormous powers. >> what do you say to those who say it's not that bad? >> don't mean to sound alarmist but they have many of the attributes of the old soviet system, faceless bureaucrats setting industrial policy this is something we should be very very concerned about as a people. obama administration has suggested the epa will use the new power to impose in a
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commanding control way a cap and trade system for carbon if congress doesn't act. it's a massive tax that could cost the american economy more than half a trillion dollars a year. trillion with a t according to the national association of manufacturers. riley the former republican epa chief says something like that needs to be done. >> i think the epa has been led to a position where it's got to act. >> many disagree. among other things the epa cleanup operations of 40 years ago cost relatively little and most everyone benefits. in contrast an all out effort to lower the temperature of the planet assuming global warming is a real problem that humans can reverse would sheerl be the most complicated and expensive under taking in human history. >> the kinds of pollution in pittsburgh when i was growing up
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it's gone. i am grateful to that generation of the epa would help to make it happen. >> torpedo wood the epa latest mission reveals not a concern for the environment but a radical agenda that is less about the environment than most americans might image. as you will see later he discovered that in a college freshman dorm far from the corridors of power. when we return sweetheart suits and why they are bad for democracy after the break.
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>> citizens elect represen representatives to select passing laws. that's how democracy is sup to work. now questions about whether the
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epa with the help of environmental groups has ceased power that voters can no longer control. >> 2010 the northwest environmental defense center convinces accord that money water running off logging roads is industrial pollution requiring an epa clean water permit. the timber industry says it will cost thousands of dollars kicos thousands of jobs without any environ tament benefit. 2009 another environmental group the chesapeake bay foundation sues to force the epa to crack down on water runoff for farms along the bay. the epa settled and i am posed strict new rules that the american farm bureau says will cost billions of dollars. 2011 the epa poses stricter limits on pesticide use than
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congress requires. environmental groups sued saying law americas were being too lenient. just a few cases that show how environmental groups ex tort influence over the epa. >> they used a lot of litigation to get federal judges they ordered the epa to do what they want them to do. >> steven hayward is a policy at pepperdine university. >> it is poorly understood by the public and by members of congress. >> my understanding is there is situations where groups file suit against your agency. literally on the same day there are settlements entered into by the agency for those groups. >> i am not aware of any settling in the same day. >> there is a long history of epa working with advocacy groups. and what i would call a sweetheart deal. >> he is a former assistant epa
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administrative assistant. >> they get to cases they get to recover any fees you have to pay for the costs of bringing a suit. it's a pretty good money maker. >> it gets even worse says homestead. >> many of the same groups get grants from epa. seems like a skewy system. >> i have said it for years but it's the system we have. you are subsidizing these groups to bring lawsuits to attack private property rights to attack the capitalist system to attack various industries. >> mark levin says ma nin many s the law gives environmental groups special standing to sue. >> it is a horrendous circle. >> the convenieenvironmental gr by bringing the suits they are bringing the average american interests and protecting the environment. >> the committee on environment and public works says environmental groups don't even
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have to sue to stop delay or threaten some projects. case in point alaska 2010. the pebble partnership proposes a new mineral mining operation that could generate billions of dollars of economic activity and thousands of jobs around the bristol bay region. enter a local environmental group that complained to the eastboundi epa. >> despite the fact no plan or permit had been submitted the epa announced opposition to the project concluding it might interfere with a salmon habitat. whether or not the project ultimately happens bitter says the epa abused its power. >> they are jumping the gun looking to pre-empt the project. >> some groups are using the system to advance agendas that have nothing to do with the environment.
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in do 10 a collection of environmental groups petitioned the epa to regulate the led as a toxic substance claiming they contaminate groundwater and poison wildlife. the epa began the public comment process but shut it down when a political firefight broke out. >> the nra accused the epa back door attempt to hunting and post men control. >> i think it was clearly a clifr leftist approach to cut down on rights and made life tougher for folks that own guns. >> hayward thinks we haven't seen the last of it. >> environmental groups think of the epa as their agency. they are making a mess of things and it's going to get worse. >> coming up environmental racism and keystone pipeline. racism and keystone pipeline. is the green [ male announcer ] if you had a dollar for every dollar car insurance companies say they'll save yoby switching, you'd have like, a ton of dollars.
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"behind obama's green agenda."
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>> since before he took office presidents obama has promised to boost the economy by creating millions of green jobs. taxpayers spent billions but the green economy has yet to rule. so what about the real existing economy? the one that overwhelmingly still depends on pos ill fue-- fossil fuels? >> if one decisions captures four obama critics the green agenda it is his decision to go full bore on the keystone pipeline. >> our experts said we needed a saernlt of time to review the project. >> the project would transport oil from the oil sands of western canada to refinerys in texas. >> the environmentalists are saying we have to stop it using every excuse they could. >> he is a republican from oklahoma says building a pipeline is a no brainer for many reasons. starting with the thousands of private sector jobs economists predict it would create.
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>> they have all of this capability not just in producing and exploring but pipelines going through. we have to keep the production in america. >> the obama administration however says it's concerned the pipeline would pollute aquifers that would go over. and tar sand oil to the market only in the administration's view accelerate global warming. what really dipped is another argument advanceed by epa administrator lisa jackson environmental justice. >> it's what we see in inner cities where they miss school and workers stay home. open landfills are rampant and drinking water is polluted. >> environmental justice argument is something like the keystone pipeline will end up in port arthur texas the refineries and neighborhood by the budget by minorities. the refining process will therefore pollute. >> i would say that's one bhoer fabrication used to retard our
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production in this country. those people needs jobs. >> i have been working with port arthur and their biggest pride their biggest request is to have more high tan oil jobs. this is what the keystone pipeline would bring. >> the president of the national black chamber of commerce doubts concerns about environ pment tal justice are sincere. >> i don't think that our epa administrator jackson is turning over at night thinking about the four blacks and port arthur texas. >> david vitter thinks the obama administration employs many bogus arguments against fossil fuels. >> several years ago they lease rights offshore alaska and obama epa held that up for various image tive reasons for total of about 3 years. >> the most imaginative delay tactics he says serving emissions from shell's ice breaking vessels would approach. only approach impermissible air
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pollution levels. >> took action and took the entire jurisdiction of that particular matter out of the epa's hands for this vital pr g project to move on. >> the epa wouldn't talk to us they only sent a statement which concerted the good faith efforts on the environment that: >> president obama climate czar carol browner opposed it over objection it would kill even more jobs in the region already devastated by the spill. but browner sited a panel of experts that she said recommended stopping all exploration and drilling in the gulf. but that wasn't true.
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interior department inspector general concluded he implied the experts supported the moratorium. when in fact they had neither reviewed nor supported such a policy decision. >> an investigation confirmed browner and the white house doctored that report to lead to the moratorium. >> browner wouldn't talk to us. >> vitter thinks it was a case of never getting -- letting a cs go to waist. >> when the opportunity went up they immediately went for the most extreme action completely shutting down the gulf. >> what kind of economic impact does that have on your region? >> tens of thousands of jobs at moratorium who are bigger than the hit from the spill itself and it was the biggest negative thing we have dealt with in five plus years. >> you have heard people talk about sustain ability. what exactly do they mean? it may be the key to understanding what is behind the obama green agenda after the break.
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>> this is sustain ability park in downtown denver. it celebrates the idea of sustainable development. you hear that term a lot these days. do you really know what it means? what gregg jarrett discovered might trouble you. >> sustainable planet. >> sustainable development. >> sustainable campuses. >> clean sustainable energy. >> if you are like peter wood
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former boss state university professor, former kings college provost current president of the national association of scholars you may have assumed all of this sustain ability talk was jus fancy way of speaking green. >> sustainable future. >> i thought it was the up to date word for environmentalism. >> then wood whose organization was pounded to confront the rise of campus political correctness discovered a sustain ability initiative at the university of delaware. it seemed to have precious little to do with clean air or clean water. >> the 7,000 dormitory students were expected to participate. >> in this video produced by another college watch dog group. >> don't be racist. >> students writ the program. >> you are important because you are of this race or you identify with this sexual orientation. >> i support gay marriage but that doesn't mean everyone at the school should have to. >> white students were told they had to confess they were racist.
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students were told if they didn't support gay marriage they had to go stand in the corner. >> sounds like what you are describing is students being brain washed. >> it was an attempt to get inside the student's heads alienate them from american culture. they feel guilty about the social attitudes they brought from their homes and replaced them with basically cauqusai marxist view of the world. >>on burn john burn is directo the center of energy and environmental policy his top sustain ability guru. he says he had nothing to do with the program he confirmed it was part of the university's sustain ability push. >> the aim was a proposal the students would engage some what controversial argument and some students felt that was inappropriate. >> the school canceled the program. wood wanted to know what it had
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to do for the sustain ability in the first place. he got his answer in a university of delaware computer he found during the investigation. it illustrated the concept of sustain ability with three overlapping circles. healthy environments plus strong economies and social justice. where they overlap that's the sustain ability sweet spot. in other words, sustain ability is about a lot more than the environment. wood discovered notions like anti colonialism and eek co fen n echo feminism can be part of sustain ability, too. >> free enter rise getting us set with the social justice agenda. >> the term sustain ability was coined in the 1987 united nations report. he should know he was part of the government tal panel on
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climb gnat chan climate change which shared the peace prize with al gore. >> we have to figure out how to make a world that would be economically approved. on the other hand make sure we bee kooef a functioning environment for future generations. >> green is part of the equation. >> that's right. >> much of the credit for the judgment idea into a true one in the u.s. goes to a man who got a big assist from one of america's democratic power struggles. >> teresa heinz got together they emerged from that the sustain ability contacted you. >> i think we really need to promote the development. >> they created nonprofit for second nature. they believe the best place to
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start changing the way american lives in college campus. they have the sustain ability agenda for school's number one priority. >> how successful are you in getting support? >> they need the commitment now we have 677 in all 50 states. >> the sustain ability movement is the biggest thing on the american college campus. >> wood said they shouldn't surprise any one that led in outrage with the sustain ability program at the university of delaware. >> the organization is founded on a rotten base. >> this is not what we are intending to do. there is no liberal there is no conservative there is no ideology. >> you are not driven by
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political agenda? >> no. publication suggests otherwise. >> sustainable development and environmental justice past, present and future now distribution of resources engangered communities of poor people and of communities of color. it sounds like liberal social theory college students add here to? >> it's what we want to understand what happened in the past and what the consequences were. >> what it says is we are going to redress and repay inequalities from the past. that's what it says. >> circle. >> it was your report. >> yes, it was our report. >> we have got to make up for
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past inequalities. >> the question is how the obama administration interprets sustain ability. evidence suggests a lot like cortezi. that's epa administrator lisa jackson. >> we must build and rebuild a country and economy where everyone gets a fair shot. >> is the key to president obama's green agenda in this report? is this commission after the president signed an executive order calling for an integrated strategy starrtoward sustain ab in the federal government. the report recommends the agency incorporate into the daily affairs the three sustainable development pillars, social, environmental and economic. sounds like the epa is on board with your sustain ability? >> yes. >> sounds like it. >> while the epa tells fox it has not yet made any decisions on implementation of the report
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other administration sustain ability initiatives have moved forward. >> president obama can is he on board with sustain ability? >> for me that's the open question. although i see disturbing signs both sustain ability movement being translated into public policy. >> coming up the choice for the november election might come down to two competing visions of progress. we will explain when fox news we will explain when fox news reporting returns af
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>> two sets of policy proposals but two separate visions for how the world works. in the end it may come down to your idea of progress and your faith in mankind to over come
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the toughest problems. >> a mass i have solar energy designed to help the state meet a man ddate to generate a thirdf the green sources by 2020. one of 17 solar wind projects covering thousands of acres with loan guarantees by the obama energy and interior developments in the southwest. to president obama these massive installations together with all sour sorts of green technologies represent progress and a big
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2008 campaign. oh oo you put 9 billion in green jobs. >> in the first debate republican nominee mitt romney attacked the president's green agenda more than once. >> if you don't just pick the winners and losers you pick the losers. >> a lot of the debate is about how much we know how much we can know and what we should do about it if we do know. >> charles kessler is senior fellow of the claire mount institute and author of examining obamobama's place in american progressive movement. >> you have progress sieves who think we are in a position that know much more about the future of nature, the future of the planet. >> people like buzz hill bury. >> they are trying to choke us all out.
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>> welcome to west virginia coal company. >> i saw people selling their homes, moving away from west virginia and my county. >> folks here say the green agenda threatens their way of life. >> do you feel the industry is under attack? >> definitely. >> absolutely. >> 100 percent. >> but the obama administration sees a much bigger problem that needs solving right now. >> does it make any sense to pretend climate change happening and hoping we can deal with it later? >> such servitude about global warming explains why epa administrator lisa jackson restricted greenhouse gas emissions through regulation held up for reverse permits and i am posed new more stringent rules on coal fired power plants. even in the middle of the great recession. >> is there any evidence that they are harming the economy? >> none, sir. none that i am aware of. >> it's just not right.
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>> west virginia state senator insists she is flat out wrong. >> you are a west virginia democrat. do you feel abandoned by this white house? >> yeah, i do. i feel very let down. >> he wasn't sure about mitt romney either. >> he has a history of speaking out about global warming he was the first governor to sign cap and trade. you think his search for coal is cle sincere? >> that's a tough question. >> i talk to do a lot of coal mierns all of them are democrats they hate president obama's policies but they are also weary of governor romney. >> i don't think they have reason to be weary of governor romney. we are going to do everything he can to hold his feet to the fire to make sure that our econ mow is unleashed.
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>> in other words mark levin suggests it's economic growth that will generate environmental solutions not the other way around. bjorn longberg agrees that's how progress happens. >> the trick is not believing this is how government mandate specific properties saying this is how we should do it this is what we want out of it. focused on broad based innovation not on specific mandates. >> you have a choice. >> voters will decide which strategy is which. >> this debate is far from ore while the results won't end it it will nonetheless set america on a four-year course that could profoundly effect people in this country and around the world only distant generations may know if and how the chosen
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course protected the planet, but we and our children will know soon if wheped -- we helped or hurt our way of
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